Welcome to the June edition of Luminescence!
The goal for this newsletter is to keep you, our Illumify authors, informed about what is happening in our publishing universe especially as it pertains to you. So here we go!
In This Edition We'll Discuss
- Our upcoming writers conference—and how it’s different from other writers conferences.
- More Illumify award winners
- Best practices: how one author reached almost 60,000 people in 10 days—and possibly millions more who love to fly
- Our June monthly author training
- One last chance to sign up for BookFunnel
- Quote of the Month
Illumify Writers Conference Is Only 3 Weeks Away!
Although writing books essentially occurs in isolation, I strongly believe that every writer intent on honing their craft needs a community and a coach. Everyone.
That’s what lies behind our second annual writers conference. Building a writing community around honing their craft.
Here’s what you need to know:
Write. Market. Publish. SELL!
Writers Conference Summer 2019
Saturday, July 13, 2019
8:00 am to 4:00 pm
Arapahoe Community College
Lunch catered by Dickey’s Barbecue
Register today for just $89. Prices goes up to $99 on July 1!
Click here to go to the website
Click here to purchase your ticket now
Why you need to be there:
>Meet Geoff Stone, Illumify’s publishing wunderkind!
>Learn the business of books from Tom Freiling, the founder of Xulon Press and an innovator in publishing and social media
>Learn how to master Scrivener, the writing platform used by thousands of professional writers and authors that will save you time and hassle
>Discover how to write books that sell from Larry Yoder, former sales rep for MacMillan and mentor to countless traditionally-published authors
>Consult with these amazing people—and other workshop presenters
>Dickey’s Barbecue!
I won’t belabor the point, but last year, participants told us we organized the best writers conference they had ever attended.
Prices go up on July 1.
More Illumify Book Award Winners
Saving Africa from Lies that Kill, by Kay Kiser—Finalist in the Social Change category
in the 2019 International Book Awards
Jesus in Shorts, by Laura Padgett—The Eric Hoffer Award Finalist for Excellence in Independent Publishing
Best Practices
Kay Kiser, our award-winning author, is a member of Marquis Who’s Who and paid them to be included in their full-page ad in the July issue of Delta Sky magazine. In the ad, she also included links to her BookFunnel first chapter excerpt and her blog. The airline magazine circulates 16 million print and online copies.
Kay also recently reached 57,600 people and engaged 2,400 visitors on Facebook with her blog post "Overpopulation the Dangerous Myth behind the other Myths." Although they were paid ads, she says they were reasonably priced. Like Delta magazine, she included links to her BookFunnel free chapter and book trailer.
Great job, Kay!!
June Monthly Training: 7 Easy Steps to Creating a GREAT Author Email Newsletter
Creating an author email newsletter is a great way to maintain interest and loyalty among your readers. But where do you begin? What do you say? How often should you say it? Karen Bouchard is going to answer these questions and more—then walk you through creating an author email newsletter on MailChimp.
Even if you use a different email marketing platform—or already have an author newsletter up and running—she’ll be sharing content tips and best practices that you can apply to your newsletter strategy.
Tuesday June 25th at 7:00 MT
At the time of the training, click here to join: https://zoom.us/meeting/6061562523
Last Call for BookFunnel
We recently acquired access to BookFunnel, a service that enables you to give away excerpts of your book so you can pick up email addresses (called a “lead magnet”), send out advanced review copies, and most importantly, stimulate sales.
For last month’s training, Karen Bouchard shared "21 Fun, Creative Ways to Introduce New Readers to Your Book with BookFunnel." To download the recording, click here. To learn more about how to incorporate BookFunnel into your book sales strategy, email Karen Bouchard, our Acquisitions Editor.
Author Spotlight: David Rupert
The Denver metro area has a thriving Christian writers community called Writers on the Rock. Last February, they hosted their fifth Christian writers conference, with special guests Philip Yancy and Jerry Jenkins. In fact, Illumify was a sponsor of the conference. And who leads this burgeoning community? David Rupert, author
of the Illumify release Living a Life of Yes: One Word Can Change Everything. By day, he’s the Communications Manager for the US Postal Service.
Publishing Glossary
ISBN: The unique “street address” that identifies your print book and eBook. A different ISBN is required for each version of a title (i.e. e-book and paperback).
Recent Illumify Releases
May 14 Satan’s Gambit: the Forces of Darkness Unleashed by Gene Conti
As always, please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions.
Mike Klassen, President
Geoff Stone, Editorial Director
Karen Bouchard, Acquisitions Editor/Marketing Director
Jen Clark, Operations Director
Erin Grantham, Acquisitions Editor and Social Media Maven
Thanks again for choosing Illumify!
Mike Klassen
